Have you ever had something disappointing happen to you that you kept replaying repeatedly in your mind? If you’re human, I am sure you have. It’s only natural to relive circumstances that evoke great emotional responses, especially those negative ones. Unfortunately, though, this unhealthy practice limits our ability to move forward.
Image courtesy of Caleb George at Unsplash.com
In James Allen’s classic book, As a Man Thinketh, the mind is described as a garden. Whether cultivated or neglected it will most certainly yield a harvest: useful fruit or useless weeds. Our choice of thoughts creates our circumstances and even our character.
So we must be diligent to guard our minds. If we are serious about doing great things this year, then we have to get with the program – the mental reprogram.
Perhaps you’ve made a commitment to yourself to get some things done this year. Those extra pounds or inches have to go; that book needs to be written; a new classroom management technique must be implemented, or maybe it’s time to get started on that degree program you’ve been putting off. Whatever it is, we all have some goals we want to achieve and our minds have a lot to do with making it happen.
Often it seems as though we are holding ourselves back, especially when we tune into what’s going on in our own minds. We begin to replay those self-defeating, negative mental tapes of how difficult it’s going to be or how we’ve failed in the past or even what people might say. The worry list is endless!
In Jon Gordon’s Tips for a Positive New Year, he advises that we begin talking to ourselves rather than listening. Now I know you’re worried about how crazy you might seem to others if you’re talking to yourself, but the benefits you’ll experience are far worth it. I jokingly like to say, “Talk to yourself, but just don’t answer back”. LOL!
When all we are listening to are complaints, worries, fears and doubts, it makes sense to change the frequency of our internal radio. Sometimes we’ve got to audibly speak to ourselves and get our minds on a positive path, a path of hope and progress.
Yup! Talking to one’s self can be the difference between wallowing and finally winning! There are practical steps you can take to get your mind in the game of going after your goals. Here are just a few you can adopt:
- Surround yourself with the right people. Birds of a feather do flock together and since iron sharpens iron, you may want to associate more with folks who are already speaking the language of success.
- Speak to yourself with positive affirmations. Kim Phillips, a very good friend of mine, is a success mentor and life strategist who is considered an affirmation specialist. She explains in her book that these statements or self scripts should be repeated until they become beliefs that enable you to take action and get the results you desire. Say it until you seize it! You might also find her 15 steps to affirmation success particularly helpful.
- See the big picture. Take some time to visualize yourself already accomplishing the desired goals. If you are like one of my former students who claimed not to have a vivid imagination, then find pictures that represent the goal for you. Whatever it takes just get a tangible vision of your objective.
Whether we are hearing it from others, saying it to ourselves or seeing it with our own eyes, our minds must be managed with positive words and images. If we want to do more and become more, we must remember it all begins in the mind.
Leave a comment: How do you manage your mind to stay in the game?
I manage to keep my mind in the game by solitary sometimes. I feel moments alone to vent and think as well as surrounding myself with relaxing settings suchs as inspirational music, warm baths or beach walks helps alot to help me focus on important things while at peace to help process clearer visions to assist with my mind to keep in the game.